Traditional digital broadcast television can be delivered to subscribers using a variety of systems. For example, compressed digital video can be delivered to subscribers using a variety of media, including coaxial cable, fiber optic cable and satellite links. Cable television systems, digital satellite television systems, and telco video services each employ content delivery models that involve aggregation of programming content from multiple content providers and delivery of the aggregated programming content to subscriber premises.
In traditional television broadcasts 100, as illustrated by way of example in FIG. 1, first, the broadcast is created. The broadcast includes at least one or more information signals containing a plurality of television programs which may be selected from a multitude of television programs produced and broadcast from all around the world. Cable systems often receive from satellites the signals they then send through the wires of the cable network. The signals are sent into space to a satellite, converted to a different frequency, and transmitted back to earth to the local cable networks serving each area. Within these service areas, many miles of wire of the cable networks are installed with other utility services such as phone and electricity either underground or on utility poles. Such connections provide cable outlets from the private cable network to residential or business consumers. To access the private network of the cable television services, the consumer must subscribe to the cable company which will then connect the consumer to its private network via the coaxial cable and connected equipment such as a set top box. Televisions are designed to accept signals only from the point of connection to the cable or antenna.
In cable television systems, content is aggregated at a local or regional head end and is retransmitted to subscribers within the regional or local market. The head end is the control center of the cable television that processes the satellite signals in combination with the signals from the local television stations. The head end then transmits or relays the television signals to endpoint nodes within the provider's private network. Finally, these signals are relayed into consumers' homes through the extensive private network of the laid wires/cables called the “last mile.” The last mile of the communication network links a residential or business consumer to the network. Due to the inherent privacy and proprietary nature of the last mile network, service providers can be confident that digital content delivered directly to their customers is reasonably free from tamper and interceptions. This inherent security that the last mile provides has been vital to the operation of cable television services, and has been the reason that natural monopolistic conditions have and continue to exist. These natural monopolist conditions create a barrier to open competition in the cable television service marketplace.
Current cable television services, as well as terrestrial broadcast television, have the same content sent continuously to all consumers' homes. The consumer “tunes” a specific television program (channel) at the endpoint either the television or set top box. It is to be noted that, when comparing different traditional networks, different components of each network may be identified as the endpoint. For example, for terrestrial television, the antenna may be identified as the endpoint. For cable television, the set top box may be identified as the endpoint.
In recent years, the landscape is changing dramatically as both residential and business customers demand more and more bandwidth for a growing number of services including high-speed Internet access and video, as well as voice. This increasing consumer demand combined with government de-regulation has allowed Telcos as well as cable companies to compete to provide identical services to the consumer. Traditionally, cable companies have provided PayTV services. Telcos have provided voice and Internet services, as a result both last mile type providers (cable and Telco) have positioned their networks to offer triple play offerings within their IP based private networks. As shown in the example in FIG. 2, Telcos and cable companies 200, such as AT&T and VERIZON are vying to provide “triple play services” (voice, data, and video) to their customers in order to compete with the services provided by cable and satellite operators.
Service providers are taking advantage of an emerging IP-based technology, called Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) 110 (shown by way of example in FIG. 1), to offer video services and compete with the cable and satellite television services. IPTV describes a system capable of receiving and displaying a video stream encoded as a series of Internet Protocol packets. IPTV enables television programming to be available whenever each individual consumer demands it. IPTV in delivery is similar to how information on the Internet can be downloaded and viewed. The promise of IPTV is that it will enable carriers to bundle and deliver TV, video signals, or other multimedia services to the residential or business consumer via existing broadband connections, instead of being delivered through traditional broadcast and cable formats. Using IPTV systems can bundle IPTV with Internet services and deliver broadband video services to subscribers over last mile technologies, such as Digital Subscriber (DSLs).
It may be desirable to provide an “over-the-top” (over-the-top of a high speed Internet/broadband) pay TV subscription service offering high quality streaming video over an Internet-based Virtual Private Network. It also may be desirable to provide direct services to the consumer, wherein the IPTV service delivers premium quality of service (QoS) and quality of experience (QoE) to the subscriber along with total endpoint control. In contrast, traditional systems have required the installation and maintenance of a private distribution network and required some forms of hardware-based set top box to provide endpoint control, as discussed above.
It may also be desirable to provide a service that breaks the barriers of the last mile by delivering content over the public Internet as an always-on, quality, video subscription services and that manages the consumer experience with its proprietary software/virtual set top box (VSTB). For example, it may be desirable to provide a VSTB that leverages VPN and DRM (Digital Rights Management) technologies (coupled to a video decoding capabilities) making a safe and private connection for each consumer. It may also be desirable to embed security to any form of content (even premium real-time video). Another example is that it may be desirable for the VSTB to allow for value-enhanced services such as on-demand content, shopping, gaming, and demographically targeted advertisements.